A Man in the Shadows
by Icy Pen
Summary: Rune didn't want to do the many things he has done over the years. It was simply survival of the fittest. The only way to survive in this world is to join the side that is winning. To Rune, survival is the most important. But, a special person might change that.
1. Chapter 1

New stories to come! Don't forget to comment or PM me about any mistakes or ideas.

Chapter 1

"We have to go! Like now!" A robber said while looking out the window.

"I got it! I got it! Now let's get the hell out of here!" Another robber said with a brown clothed bag in hand while jumping out of the window of the dust store. The both ran until a masked man with two long bladed Katate-uchi stood in front of them.

"What are you standing there for? Get him!" The Robber with the bag in hand said to the other. The man nodded and unsheathed a red-bladed katana and rushed the mysterious man. The mysterious man rushed towards the rushing robber, jabbing his left sword into the man's stomach. He then threw his other sword right into the thief's chest. He would grab the bag and pour the contents of the bag out into his hand. Different types of dust crystals would pour out of the bag and eventually subsided. He would place all the crystals in a small tube and hook the container to his belt.

"Phantom, I need you here," Raven said.

"You got it, boss." He said while sprinting into an alleyway, away from the murder scene.

 **A few days later in the POV of Phantom**

"Oi...Rune...Earth to Rune...are you there?" Cherry asked as she tapped on my head.

"What…" I said in an annoyed tone. I hated that Raven assigned me to infiltrate the school, and also assigned Cherry in my team. I had no problem with her because I knew that she was a good fighter and an overall an intelligent being, but her happy mood upset me.

"Someone's being grumpy." She dramatically said.

"Leave him be Cherry. You do not want to be on his bad side." Scarlett said while looking out the window. I almost forgot that we were on a carrier to enter the school. I looked around and saw many other people besides our team.

"Hello!" I heard Amber say to two girls.

"Hi." The red-haired on said.

"Hey." The blonde one replied.

"I'm Amber and these are my friends." She said while pointing at Cherry, Scarlett and me.

"Hiya!" Cherry said while waving her hand.

"How's it going?" Scarlett said while leaning on a part of the railing. I didn't respond I just lifted my hand up and then let it fall.

"Don't worry about him, he's shy," Amber said.

"I am not!" I exclaimed as I shot up onto my feet.

"You are too," Amber said while crossing her arm. "Prove it."

"Alright," I said while walking towards the blonde. I then extended my hand out.

"Hello, my name Rune...and yours?" I asked.

"Yang Xiao Long and this is my little sister Ruby." She replied while shaking my hand. I then brought her hand up to my mouth and kissed her palm.

"It's nice to see you Yang...wow, your eyes are like the color of water lilies," I said as I stepped closer to her.

"Really?" she said but then cleared her throat. "I mean yeah I know." She then said while crossing her arms with a little red on her cheeks.

I would turn to Amber and say, "I'm not shy."

"Well I meant for you to be friendly...not flirty." She said while grinning. I would just wave her off, walk back to my seat, and opened a book.

"It was nice to meet yo…" Ruby said but I was interrupted by a hologram of a teacher.

"Hello and welcome to Beacon, my name is Glynda Goodwitch. You are among a privileged few who have received the honor of being selected to attend this prestigious academy. Our world is experiencing an incredible time of peace and as future Huntsmen and Huntresses, it is your duty to uphold it…" The lady said.

"So boring…" Cherry said.

"Quiet," I said.

"...To protect our world." The lady said then faded away.

"I missed it…" I said while sighing.

We then saw the Academy for this first time while on the ship.

"A bit bigger than I had imagined…"I said while stepping off the ship. We had an ample amount of time left so we started to walk around the campus. We familiarized the locations of the dorms, dining hall, the park, locker room, and finally the classrooms. After walking around the academy, we headed towards the assembly.

"Just in time," I said while looking at my watch. I then saw Ruby wave at me from the corner of my eye. I then walked to Ruby and her sister for a chat.

"How's it going ladies?" I asked.

"Alright, I guess," Ruby said while looking at the ground.

"Come on It can't be that bad of a…" I said but I got interrupted by a platinum blonde.

"It's you!" The girl said.

"Weiss Schnee...Names Rune." I said while pointing at myself.

"Yeah Yeah Yeah…" She said while waving me off. I then backed away and let the three girls talk until Professor Ozpin began to talk. I did not pay attention but I knew it would be a summary of what Ms. Goodwitch had said in the ship.

As we walked out we were ushered into a large room with some sleeping bags already laid out. I picked a sleeping bag near the "boys" section while the rest of my team picked sleeping bags on the girls side.

"Are you going to be okay over there?" Scarlett asked.

"I'm going to be fine...Good night ladies" I said to my team as well as Ruby and Yang.

I then got into my sleeping bag and fell asleep right away. I woke up at around eight in the morning and wrapped up my sleeping bag. I heard a pink haired girl ramble as a man tried to tie his sleeping bag as well.

"So noisy for the morning…" I muttered. I then brushed my teeth and quickly ate breakfast before I grabbed my weapons before I heard an announcement on the intercom.

"Would all first-year students please report to Beacon cliff for initiation. I repeat, would all the first year students report the Beacon Cliff for initiation immediately."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

I would stand on the launch pad as Professor Ozpin explained our objective. I then saw a man get launched and prepared myself for a launch. I quickly put on my mask that differed from my usual one. It covered my right eye and my nose and mouth. It fit around the lower part of my face and clamped shut at the back which protected my face from attacks. It was a technological breakthrough with its pinpoint accuracy with range and wind calculations. This mask was perfect all around. I then felt it secure itself and a gave a lazy salute to my team, Ruby and Yang. I then was launched into the sky and headed towards the ruins. I would unholster my weapons which were two batons. They were able to fire dust-infused bullets as well as spring a large katana blade from the longer end of the baton. I then aimed myself at a tree and jabbed my baton's blade into the tree. I then landed on the ground and went straight to the temple. I then went into a clearing and found Scarlett there.

"Aye," I said while waving my hand.

"Oh hello," Scarlett responded.

"I guess you're my teammate then," I said while looking around the area.

"I guess so." She said as she sheathed her sword. She had a sword that could turn into a bladed whip in a matter of seconds, which would be a great combo with my batons. We then ran towards the ruins when we saw Ruby, Yang, Weiss, another girl accompanying Yang, Pyrrha, The pink haired girl with the guy, and a blonde male.

"Rune you missed it! I took down this huge bird and it…" She said but stopped. "There is a huge Scorpion Grimm behind you," she said. I then turned around and saw the grimm advance towards our position. I then saw everyone advance the grimm. As they reached the grimm, the scorpion swept them away with its stinger and continued its path towards me. I then simply unholstered on of my batons and got into my fighting stance until it was close to me. I then punched it with my baton's smaller side while firing a bullet, causing it to explode into small particles. I then unholstered my baton as everyone stared at the scene. After we left the forest, the teams would be picked for our time at Beacon.

"Are you ready?" Ruby asked me while in line to the stage.

"You know it," I said. Then Professor Ozpin announced our names

"Rune Knight, Scarlett McAdams, Cherry O'Neil, and Amber Hudson. The four of you retrieved the Black King piece. From this day forward, you will work together as Team SCAR. Lead by Rune Knight." He announced. "Congratulations Rune." He said while shaking my hand. I then stepped down the stage and waited for Ruby's team to be called. I then meet the new team as well as another team JPNR lead by Jaune Arc.

"So what are your plans Ruby?" I asked her.

"I dunno...maybe sleep, it's like 10 pm right now." She said while stretching.

"Alright, I'll see you later I guess," I said while walking towards the dorms. My team and I approached our dorm and opened the door.

"This room is...small," Cherry said while setting down her bag.

"It's because of the four beds in here," I replied. "Let's make a bunk bed so that we have more room." It only took us 10 minutes for us to reinforce the bottom bunks to the ground and bind the top bunk to the bottom one.

"Nice work team...now to bed," I said while flopping on the bottom left bunk bed. We then began to sleep so that we would have energy for our first day of classes.

I woke up around eight and also woke up the others.

"Let's head to breakfast," I said while putting my school jacket on. We then walked out the room and saw that Team RWBY was our neighbors and Team JPNR was in front of us as well. I knocked on the door and soon after the door swung open.

"Hello Team SCAR! What's going on?" Ruby answered.

"Oh nothing we are just about to head to breakfast, would you like to join us?" I asked.

"Sorry, we still have the stuff to do, but we'll see you in class maybe?" She said.

"Alright don't stay here too long, you don't want to be late to your first day of school," I said while walking away. We ate and went to our classes. We had shared many classes but I was the only one to stray from my team's classes. While they took Grimm anatomy, I took a stealth class. After we were done we headed towards our dorm and rested.

A few weeks later

Team SCAR would walk towards a small fighting arena and saw Jaune fight Cardin from team CRDL. Jaune did not win, but I was excited because it was my turn to fight someone. I stepped on stage and I saw Pyrrha step on as well.

"I'm not going to go easy on you so I hope you would do the same," I said while unholstering my two batons. She nodded and grabbed her shield and her rifle that transformed into a sword. We then dashed at each other and locked weapons. We had parried each other's attack with succession. In the fight, as I was going to slash down on her chest, I saw that she had moved her shield to block it irregularly. It seemed that she was able to counter the attack in a matter of a second. Pyrrha then pushed me back with her shield and scraped my left arm with her spear. I then quickened my attacks and ran to her position. We then locked our weapons together and pushed on our weapons. She had blocked one of my batons with her shield and locked into my other baton with her sword. I then sprang my batons' katana feature and sliced at her stomach with the baton that was blocked by her shield. I then slashed her shield shoulder quickly and stepped back. She would dash at me again with her spear but I would flip open a button on my batons' handle and pressed it. She would fall down to the ground and her aura would drain until her aura counter was red. I opened my scroll to see my aura counter 75% there.

"Rune is the victor of this match. Now Rune what was your technique in this fight?" Ms. Goodwitch asked.

"A good fighter never reveals his moves," I said while spinning my batons then holstering them. I then helped Pyrrha up to her feet.

"Thanks for the good and fair fight," I said.

"No, thank you." She said while walking towards her team.


End file.
